Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Does your mother know you talk like that?

Yesterday I had a chance to sit down with my old boss (now my boss's boss) for the first time since I was out on maternity leave. I wanted to prime the pump for the upcoming bonus discussions that are sure to start taking place any day. I reminded BigBoss that he didn't come through with a raise or much of a bonus this past year despite being promised an increase when I first came on board over a year ago. Sure, times are tough. I get that. BigFinance has had some troubles but I wanted to make my case now rather than in the meeting when I find out I'm getting shit again. But I'm not holding my breath. By the way, did I feel at all guilty about asking for more money while just back from a 3 month paid leave? Hell, no! To [mis]quote Donna Summer, "[I] work hard for [my] money."

While I was chatting with him I mentioned a few problems I've been having on my project. And this is when I realized I am still a long time away from the corner office. BigBoss picked up the phone and had a 2 minute profanity laden conversation with a peer and cleared up one of my issues. I have never heard so many f-bombs and other 4 letter words in a genial conversation. Yes, they were very friendly with each other amongst the profanities. Now don't get me wrong. I swear plenty but tend to regulate myself at work to the occasional "shit" or "damn." I was awed. And frankly a little intimidated. Is this what senior level conversations are all about? If so, I'm not sure I can hack it. I mentioned the chat with a colleague and he commented, "Yeah, they are really informal at that level, aren't they?" Informal. Yes, that's a good way to put it.

Regardless, I look forward to the day when I wield the power. Mwah ha ha ha ha. I'll just do it with a little less swearing. How about the rest of you? Have you had any eye opening experiences as you interact with more senior executives?

5 comments:

Mommy, Esq. said...

There are studies that show that women who judiciously use profanities are taken more seriously. I frankly use them on occasion to good effect. You don't want to be known as a potty mouth but you do need to be taken seriously.

Nicole S. said...

for women, it's definitely a fine line with being tough and sounding like a truck driver...

LauraC said...

Jon is two levels down from CEO (it goes CEO, CTO, Jon) and I never fail to be amused at some of the conversations I overhear in our home office. He is not a big curser and refuses to pick it up to get ahead but all the inside stuff that happens is awesome to watch. People getting moved around, reorgs planned, etc.

Amanda said...

our former office manager has very loud profanity laden conversations with his office door open for the rest of us in lowly cubicals to hear. Quite frankly it irritates me because I don't know if the person I'm talking to on the phone can hear him or not. But it must happen across all business sectors by the male gender :)

Susan said...

Mommy Esq depresses me with that study =( Really, think about it, is the f-word really necessary?? Really??? I am in the business world and I happen to work with men but let me tell you, they know how I feel on the language issue and they respect it and gasp....they like me and we get along. I don't care if your the president of the US....my respect goes out the window when I have to listen to that type of talk. It certainly shows me their intelligence =)